Vehicle litter compactor

ABSTRACT

A vehicle litter compactor for attachment to the interior of an automobile or the like for compressing accumulated litter in the vehicle. The compactor has a slidable piston mounted in an elongated casing with an opening in one side of the casing. The piston is attached to a sliding shaft passing through one end of the casing and may be withdrawn past the opening for insertion of litter, and then an operator may push the shaft and piston to compress the litter in the opposite end of the casing. The casing has a removable end portion for removing compacted litter.

[ Dec. 30, 1975 United States Patent [191 Burke [54] VEHICLE LITTER COMPACTOR Inventor: Willie c. Burke, P. 0. Box 799 primay Examiner3my Wi'hite Route 1, Groveand Fm 32736 Attorney, Agent, or FlrmDuck worth, Hobby & Allen Nov. 4, 1974 [57] ABSTRACT A vehicle litter compactor for attachment to the inte- [22] Filed:

[21] Appl. No.: 520,680

rior of an automobile or the like for compressing accumulated litter in the vehicle. The compactor has a slidable piston mounted in an elongated casing with an opening in one side of the casing. The piston is attached to a sliding shaft passing through one end of the casing and may be withdrawn past the opening for insertion of litter, and then an operator may push the [56] References Cited shaft and piston to compress the litter in the opposite UNITED STATES PATENTS end of the casing. The casing has a removable end portion for removing compacted litter.

422,263 2/1890 Taylor.............................100/229,R 2,051,554 100/229 R X :7 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures 8/1936 Gasser.........

Sheet 1 of 2 3,929,060

US. Patent Dec. 30, 1975 US. Patent Dec. 30, 1975 Sheet2of2 3,929,060

VEHICLE LITTER COMPACTOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the disposal of litter in vehicles and especially to a litter compactor which can;compact and reduce the volume of litter in the vehicle which may then be easily disposed .of at a service station or road side litter trash barrel.

In the past, trash compactors of various types have been provided, especially for use in the home, in which trash, paper, thin wall metal containers, bottles, and the like may be inserted into an open container which may then be closed and compressed to crush and compact the trash into a smaller volume for litterdisposal. Various types of paper and plastic containers may be squashed to a smaller volume. Bottles may be broken into pieces and cans may be crushed into substantial smaller volumes to produce a more compacted mass for pickup and burial or incineration.

It has been common in the past to provide various types of presses for extracting materials. Typical presses may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,892,397 for a Portable Press Extractor which is on wheels and provides for a swingable top and a screwtype press to squeeze materials containing oil for removing the oil, and in U.S. Pat. No. 1,294,211 which is a press attachable to a bucket or jar to convert the jar into a press for removing juices from fruits and the like. U.S. Pat. No. 1,1 3,323 illustrates a Krout Press for use in the preparation of krout while U.S. Pat. No. 3,5 63,164 illustrates a larger refuse compactor having horizontal and vertical compacting rims for compacting refuse. U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,718 teaches a trash compactor attachment for attachment to containers, such as trash or garbage cans and U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,476 provides a garbage compactor with a ram which is hydraulically and electrically operated and controlled without the constant attendance of an operator.

The present invention on the other hand provides a SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a vehicle litter compactor for attachment to the interior of a vehicle for compacting litter and has an elongated hollow casing with an opening in one side thereof for the insertion of litter therein. Attaching means are provided for attaching the compactor casing to the interior of the vehicle in a manner that it may be easily shifted between positions as desired. A slidable piston is located in the hollow casing and connected to an elongated shaft passing through the casing to the exterior of the casing where a handle is attached to the shaft. the piston may thereby be withdrawn past the side opening, litter inserted and driven with a piston towards the other end of the casing. The other end of the casing is removable in a quick detach system for removing and disposing of compacted litter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the written description and the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view with portions cut away of a litter compactor in accordance with the present invention attached to the interior of a car;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the invention in accordance with FIG. 1 having the removable end detached therefrom.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, a casing 10 is attached to the interior of a vehicle 11 which may be the bottom of the dashboard of the vehicle by an attachment means 12 which may have a bracket 13 riveted or bolted with rivets 14 to the dash and which is attached to a protruding member 15 of a stand 16 wrapped around the casing 10 by means of a bolt 17 and butterfly nut 18. The casing 10 is attached to the vehicle 11 in a manner that it may be rotated on the bolts 17 to shift positions. It should of course be appreciated that other attachment means can allow further shifting of the compactor without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The casing 10 has a removable end portion 20 which is shown removed in FIG. 2 and which has a quick detaching twist lock system in which a plurality of pins 21 are inserted in slots 22 and locked by twisting the pins 21 into slots portion 23 running perpendicular to the slots 22. Thus, by grasping the end portion 20 and twisting, end portion 20 may be pulled from the end of the casing 10 or quickly reattached. It should, however, be clear that other attaching means such as a bayonet attachment can be provided for attaching end portion 20 to the casing 10 without departing from the scope of the invention. The casing 10 has an opening 24 in one end portion thereof for inserting litter to be compacted into the removable end portion 20. A piston 25 is threadedly attached to a sliding shaft or rod 26 by the threads 27 on one end thereof and passes through the end portion 28 of the casing 10. A bushing 30 may be inserted in the opening 31 which the shaft 26 passes through to provide less friction to the sliding of the rod 26. Rod 26 has a handle 32 threadedly attached to the threads 33 of the rod 26 which may be grasped by an individual for pulling the piston 25 back past the opening 24 for inserting litter and then pushed into the container 10 for driving the litter into the removable end portion 20. As the litter accumulates in the end portion 20, it will be compressed and compacted into a reduced volume and may be easily disposed of at a service station or the like. The end portion 20 may be a throw-away canister made of hard paperboard or plastic, as desired, and easily replaced with a new end portion. The band 16 holding the casing 10 advantageously allows the casing to be attached at different points to the attaching brackets 12 for more convenient locations in different types of vehicles.

It should be clear to those skilled in the art at this point that a small litter compactor has been provided for attachment to the interior of a vehicle which is hand operated inasmuch as most of the trash being disposed of in vehicles may be easily compacted by hand force. The unit can be made having a plastic container with a steel shaft but the invention is not to be construed as limited to the particular forms disclosed herein since these are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

I claim:

1. A vehicle litter compactor comprising in combination:

a. an elongated hollow casing;

b. said casing having an opening on one side thereof for the insertion of litter therein;

c. attaching means connected to said casing for attaching said casing to a vehicle, or the like, said attaching means having means for adjusting said casing to different positions, whereby said casing may be placed in one position when not in use and quickly shifted to a second position for use in compressing litter;

d. a slidable compression piston located in said hollow casing and slidable past said opening therein;

e. an elongated rod connected to said slidable piston and extending through said elongated casing for sliding said piston; and

f. a removable casing system removably attached to one end of said hollow casingwhereby said piston will compress litter placed in said casing opening into said removable casing section which may be removed for disposal.

2. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which said elongated rod has a handle attached thereto exterior of said hollow casing for gripping and moving said rod and attached piston back and forth.

3. The apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which said removable casing section is removably attached with quick detachable twist locking pins locking into a plurality of slots in the remainder of said casing.

4. The apparatus in accordance with claim 3 in which said slidable piston has a threaded opening therein and is threaded onto a threaded end portion of said elongated rod.

5. The apparatus in accordance with claim 4 in which said opposite end of said elongated rod is threaded and said handle is threaded thereupon.

6. The apparatus in accordance with claim 5 in which said attaching means includes a bracket fixedly attached to said vehicle and a second bracket attached to said casing by a nut and bolt allowing movement of the casing relative to the vehicle and removal of the casing from the vehicle.

7. The apparatus in accordance with claim 6 in which said casing is made of plastic and said piston rod is 

1. A vehicle litter compactor comprising in combination: a. an elongated hollow casing; b. said casing having an opening on one side thereof for thE insertion of litter therein; c. attaching means connected to said casing for attaching said casing to a vehicle, or the like, said attaching means having means for adjusting said casing to different positions, whereby said casing may be placed in one position when not in use and quickly shifted to a second position for use in compressing litter; d. a slidable compression piston located in said hollow casing and slidable past said opening therein; e. an elongated rod connected to said slidable piston and extending through said elongated casing for sliding said piston; and f. a removable casing system removably attached to one end of said hollow casing whereby said piston will compress litter placed in said casing opening into said removable casing section which may be removed for disposal.
 2. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which said elongated rod has a handle attached thereto exterior of said hollow casing for gripping and moving said rod and attached piston back and forth.
 3. The apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which said removable casing section is removably attached with quick detachable twist locking pins locking into a plurality of slots in the remainder of said casing.
 4. The apparatus in accordance with claim 3 in which said slidable piston has a threaded opening therein and is threaded onto a threaded end portion of said elongated rod.
 5. The apparatus in accordance with claim 4 in which said opposite end of said elongated rod is threaded and said handle is threaded thereupon.
 6. The apparatus in accordance with claim 5 in which said attaching means includes a bracket fixedly attached to said vehicle and a second bracket attached to said casing by a nut and bolt allowing movement of the casing relative to the vehicle and removal of the casing from the vehicle.
 7. The apparatus in accordance with claim 6 in which said casing is made of plastic and said piston rod is made of steel. 